The present disclosure relates to a detection device that may detect a position where an object (hereinafter, referred to as a “finger”), such as a finger, a hand, an arm, a pen, or the like, is brought into contact with a detection surface, detect the spatial position of the object such as the finger when the object is positioned in a place away from the detection surface, or detect a movement of the object on the detection surface, and to a display apparatus including the detection device.
In the related art, technologies that may input information through the touch of a finger or the like are known. Of these, as a notable technology, a display apparatus (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-275644, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-23904) that may enable information input in the same manner as that of a case where typical buttons are pressed by the finger or the like by touching various buttons displayed on a display with the finger or the like has been disclosed. These technologies may enable displays and buttons to be shared, thereby reducing the number of components and realizing space-saving.
As for a touch sensor for detecting the touch of the finger or the like, various types of sensors exist. However, as a widespread sensor, for example, an electrostatic capacitance-type sensor (see, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-23904) may be given. In the electrostatic capacitance-type sensor, a change generated in a surface electric field of a touch panel is taken as a change in the frequency of a current flowing through a detection electrode by touching a touch panel with a finger or the like, thereby detecting the touch of a finger or the like.
In the above described detection method, a change generated in the surface electric field of the touch panel is read as a change in the frequency of the current flowing through the detection electrode. Due to this, a finger or the like is necessary to touch or sufficiently approach the surface of the touch panel. When the finger or the like is far from the surface of the touch panel (for example, being separated from the surface by 1 cm or more), information is not inputted to the touch panel. However, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-117371, even though the finger or the like is far from the surface of the touch panel, information may be inputted to the touch panel by changing an interval between detection electrodes neighboring to each other to correspond to a spatial position of an object. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-117371, the change in the interval between the neighboring detection electrodes is performed by thinning out the detection electrodes which scan.